Street-railway rail and pavement



(No Model.)

P. BARGION. STBBET RAILWAY RAIL AND PAVEMENT. No. 452,333. I r PatentedMay 12,1891.

W622i (:44 64. In van z" UNITED STATES PATEN'I OFFICE.

PETER BARGION, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE BARGIONCOMPOUND RAIL COMPANY, OF CALIFORNIA.

STREET-RAILWAY RAIL AND PAVEMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 452,333, dated May 12,1891.

Application filed November 8, 1890. Serial No. 370,749- (No model.)

To (0 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER BARGION, a citizen of the United States,residing at the city and in the county of San Francisco and'State ofCalifornia, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements inStreet-Railway Rails and Pavements; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of said invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it most nearlyappertains to make, use, and practice the same.

The old style of solid rails is found objectionable owing to theirliability to the wear of all the traffic passing over the street inwhich they are laid, in addition to the proper wear resulting from thetraffic of cars over them, so that they soon wear out or become looseand unstable, and consequently require frequent repairs and replacement.In cities this is a great source of trouble and annoyance, as itrequires that the street-pavement adjoining the rails 'be taken up anddisturbed in order to repair or replace a wornout rail, and the pavementwhen once taken up or disturbed cannot be again restored to its originalcondition unless at a heavy expense;

My invention relates to a compound rail consisting of a sub or base railwhich can be permanently laid and secured in place in a pavement, andwhich will never need to be disturbed, and a top or bearing rail adaptedto be supported upon and fastened to the sub or base rail, so that itcan be removed or repaired without disturbing either the adj oiningpavement or the sub or base rail.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a section ofstreet-pavement in perspective showin g the sub-rail and bearingrail inplace and the pocket-openings in the pavement, and Fig. 2 is across-section of same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a compound rail,showing the portion between the bolt-fastening cut away. Fig. 4: is acrosssection of a cable-road foundation, showing lower or sub railforming a part of foundation.

The rail which I use is a two-part rail, consisting of a sub or baserail and a bearing or wearing top rail. The sub or base rail conb 6,extending upward from the base at a short cable road in which metallicyokes are used to form the tunnel for the cable, I secure these sub orbase rails to the ends of the yokes, so that they form a permanent partof the road structure, as shown at Fig. 4E. The bearing or wearing railconsists of a flat head (Z, such as is used for street-car servicehaving a deep rib or flange e projecting downward from its under middleline and adapted to enter and fit the groove of the base-rail. Thisflange or rib is not as deep as the groove in the lower rail, thusleavinga space underneath it which can be used for containingatelegraph-wire or for other such purpose. It will also be seen that thehead is formed upon one side'with ashoulder (1', adapted to be seatedupon one of the vertical flanges of the base-rail, hereinafter referredto. Upon the upper surfacethe head upon one side is depressed to form ashoulder for the flange of the wheel. From this it will be noticed thatthe head is formed with two side flanges, one arranged on a plane belowthe other. The head or upper part of the rail is secured to the sub orbase rail by bolts f, which pass transversely through the two uprightsor flanges b b of the lower and the rib or flange e of the upper part atproper intervals. The bolt-holes in the rib or flange of the upper partare elongated or slotted lengthwise of the rail to accommodate theexpansion and contraction of the rail. When the bearing-rail is inproper position within the base-rail, as clearly indicated in Fig. 2, itwill be seen that the shoulder d rests upon the vertical flange on oneside of the base-rail, while the under surface of the depressed sideflange of the head rests upon the opposite vertical flange of the base.The side flanges of the base and of the head of the rail extend outwardto the same distance on each side of the compound web or connection ofthe rail, as shown at Fig. 2. This is very important, because in layingthe pavement on the street, especially a block pavement, the blocks whenlaid up close to the track will abut against both the upper and lowerflanges, and thus not only keep the pavement in proper condition, butalso support and bind the rail itsel F.

In order to provide for easy access to the bolts which secure the partsof the rail together, I leave a block or section of the pavementopposite each bolt free to be easily taken up without disturbing theadjoining pavement. This forms in the pavement what I call pockets,(marked it in the drawings) which are filled with a removable section ofpavement when it is not required to get at the bolts, thus avoiding thenecessity of breale ing or disturbing the pavement when the bolts arebeing tightened or the upper or bearing rails replaced or repaired whenworn out.

The ribs or flanges which interlock to connect the two parts of the railmay be cut away at points between the bolt-holes, as shown at Fig. 3,thus effecting quite a saving in the amount of metal without materiallyalfeeting the strength of the rail.

I am aware that a compound railway-rail composed of a base-sectionhaving two upright flanges and a head or upper section with adownwardly-projecting interlocking flange is not broadly new, such arailbeing, described in Letters Patent No. 217,766, which were issued tome on the 22d day of July, 1879.

What I claim as new is In a compound railway-rail, the combination, witha base provided at intervals along its length with vertical flanges,whereby side openings are left between the series of flanges, of abearing-rail similarly provided at intervals with a central stem fittingin the space formed between the inner side walls of the flanges of thebase, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix mysignature in presence of two witnesses.

PE'IER BARGION.

Witnesses:

G. L. France, 5. M. lIOLl)RET)GE.

